This year after completing the Dopey Challenge in Walt Disney World I signed up for two other challenges, the Hartford Marathon Foundation (HMF) Trinity 5K race series and the Triple Half Challenge. The Trinity 5K Series included three 5K races, one in Putnam, CT, the second in Niantic, CT and the final race taking place in Hartford, CT. Not only was I going to participate in this challenge, but I was doing it because my mother wanted to do her first 5K after having her knee replaced last March. It was her goal while fighting through the brutal recovery time to get better and stronger so she could participate in a 5K. I told her that when she was going through those grueling exercises and fighting the nausea from the pain that she was training for her marathon to get through it.
For Christmas I gave my family Fitbit® bracelets to monitor their steps during the day with the goal of at least 10,000 steps. Surprisingly they loved the gift! They were very conscious of their steps and even during the brutal winter we were having my mom and dad got out and took their walks on the track in North Haven. Then they came flew down to Florida with my husband and kids to watch me complete my Dopey Challenge and we would all comment on how many steps we were getting in at Disney.
As the winter went on, my parents continued to walk, but my mom got pneumonia in February and ended up in the hospital for a few days. She lost about a month of training time; but was determined that she was going to finish the race! Her goal is to get a decent time to get a corral placements that isn’t the last corral for the Walt Disney World 5K next January.
Fast forward to March 15th and we were all in our cars driving up to “butt numb” my daughter called it! We drove 90 minutes from our house to Putnam, CT. I felt like I was up in New Hampshire or Vermont. It was a beautiful area. The place where the race was being held had an amazing waterfall near by. My mom and dad drove up very early. My mom was excited and my dad just likes to be there early.
We got there in time to pick up our race bibs and swag and then use the bathrooms. Then we sat in my dad’s car until 5 minutes before the race start. We hooked up with Kim and her son Ryan, Anne, and her friend Kathleen.
As the race started the runners ran past us and we continued our race walking. The sun started to come out too! We maintained just under a 17 minute pace. At mile 2 there was a climb up hill. My mom had a little bit of a tough time up the hill because of her pneumonia less than a month ago.
But she did it! Around mile 3 there was another hill which we tackled and then rounded a corner to make the turn towards the finish line. My daughter was starting to feel tired. This was a far distance for her. My husband and son were jog/walking up ahead of us. As we got to the last quarter mile my daughter and I picked up the pace so that we could cross the line and take pictures of my mom crossing her first 5K finish line. It was fun running across the line with her for her first finish. Then we waited for my mom and dad and got pictures of them crossing the line.
My mom’s goal for her first 5K was to beat her training pace of 57 minutes and we also checked to see what the last person who crossed the line at last year’s race finished at. Their time was 1:09. My mom met her goal with a finish time of 55:30!
I’m so proud of my family for coming together and helping my mom meet her goal. I am also proud of them for trying something new! My husband who also just had knee surgery last fall did the walk, but was showing some interest in running one of these races with me. We ran the Hartford race together (more on that coming up in the O’Hartford race summary).